Mark Simon of ESPN, took to GM Sandy Alderson’s “10 win” comments from earlier this month and decided to measure that improvement in WAR. After compiling a total of 29.6 WAR last year (ESPN WAR not FanGraphs), a 10 win improvement would put the Mets a shade under an overall total of 40. According to Simon,”nine teams got at least that much WAR from their rosters in 2014. All nine won at least 88 games. The average win total among them was 91.8. Eight of those teams made the playoffs…” Who does he see as the big contributors in Queens?

Obviously, Matt Harvey and David Wright are both at the top of this list. Each player has been tasked with producing a 5.0 WAR season next year and if both these guys can stay healthy, I think that’s a realistic figure. Wright’s last season with a 5.0+ WAR was 2013 when he posted 5.9 in only 112 games, some regression on that production played over 140 games could easily be valued at 5.0+.

Honestly, I stay the course for the majority of this article, but I had to point out that he produced a 2.5 WAR season in 2010 and that makes no sense- regardless of his defense. He played 157 games, had an OBP of .354, slugged at a .503 clip, hit 29 home runs and knocked in 103 RBI’s, yet that was somehow less valuable than his 2014 season which was worth 2.8 WAR. What?

For Harvey, I think he’ll bounce back with a big 2015 campaign. How that ligament holds up over his career is debatable, but this year, I expect him to produce a 6.0-7.0 WAR season. It’s a bold prediction, but it was confirmed that his velocity was right back where it was prior to the injury, that was all I needed to see to ensure great production in the short run.

Jacob deGrom was apparently snubbed by most projection systems who see him regressing significantly, but Simon noted that if he is able to replicate last year’s 9-6, 2.69 ERA pace over 32 games, he’ll be worth about 4.50 WAR. Jacob got terrible run support, so I’m assuming his win % is in some way impacting that projection. I’d think a 2.69 ERA over 32 starts would be worth more than 4.5 wins over a replacement player, but the stat is more of a gauge, so I’ll let it be.

Travis d’Arnaud was projected at 3.0 WAR. I think this drastically undervalues the power he’ll add to the middle of the lineup and WAR does not calculate any value for pitch framing, so those who prefer their catchers be measured by traditional standards- WAR is your go to guy. To be honest, I see d’Arnaud adding to the lineup what David Wright will likely give up in regression. TDA is capable of posting over a 4.0+ WAR season and I think that’s what the Captain will produce as well, so the net/net still gets the team towards October baseball.

Wilmer Flores. This one is tough because at shortstop, Flores isn’t maximizing his potential, but 2.0 is a low number and here’s my logic (coming from a guy who despises the idea of him at SS). Jhonny Peralta was able to generate 5.8 WAR last year with serviceable defense (actually, great defense according to the metrics- similar eye to stat sheet translation that Flores has), a .263 batting average, 21 home runs and 75 RBI’s. It’s a little early to don Flores as the next Peralta, but that’s essentially what everyone is expecting him to produce, so I think a 2.0 WAR is well below what he’ll actually generate. To be conservative, but also fair, I’d give Flores a 3.0 WAR on the year. Either way, I really respect his work ethic and I genuinely hope he proves everyone, including me, dead wrong.

Zack Wheeler was way undervalued in this analysis. The grading was fair based on his prior stats, but his career has kept pace with names like Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez and Zack Greinke so 2.0 has to be the bottom of what the Mets are expecting. I see Wheeler quietly emerging as a bona fide ace in 2015 and if he repeats the same level of growth he measured in 2014, I’d wager his WAR at the end of the regular season to be right around Harvey and deGrom’s. I’ll put him at 4.5 WAR. Bold, but he’s shown steady progressive growth and I’ll take that any day over a flash in the pan.

Juan Lagares has the ability to slap pitches low and away, but there’s little power reward in that approach and hopefully the Mets made that the top priority for him this offseason. He showed a brief flash of power after pitchers stopped going away on him and started going inside. When he pulls the ball, there’s a lot of power potential in his bat. If he can hit .280 with doubles power and 10-15 home runs, his defense will carry that WAR figure well above the 5.0 mark, Simon seemed to agree.

Lucas Duda showed a lot of promise last year and in many more ways than what we saw on the surface. Offensively, I think his walk and home run totals will stay the same, but there’s good reason to believe his average and OBP will go up a tick. 2014 was a year of constant adjustment for him. First, he had to prove he was a viable starter. Then he had to prove he could hit cleanup. Then he had to prove he could hit breaking pitches. Then, he had to start hitting lefties. What’s encouraging is he accomplished all those goals by the end of the season- even lefties.

After the All-Star break, Duda put up some interesting numbers against LHP, hitting .250/.333/.375 against southpaws at Citi Field and holding his own against lefties coming out of the pen (.267/.333/.367). Understandably, he was much worse against starters (.111/.167/.111). However, the one stat that didn’t correlate to anything were his numbers against lefties on the road (.162/.220/.189), not sure what that was all about. I think he’ll still struggle against tough starting LHP’s, but he played good defense and showed a knack for picking out tough throws in the dirt so I think it’s important to keep him in the lineup daily.

Also, in my mind, how a player ends the year says a lot. In the month of September against all left-handed pitchers, Duda went 7-25 with a .280/.345/.440 slashline. Not exactly a whale of a sample size, but it shows that- along with the other improvements he’s had to make- he can adjust at the big league level and he can hit lefties. The Mets don’t need him to produce at the same level he does against RHP, they just need him to keep the lineup moving so his teammates can pick up the slack, great teams do this. I think he’s capable of being a decent singles hitter against southpaws with better defense than the stats will tell you and because of that, I see his WAR being closer to 4.0+.

Little attention was given to Daniel Murphy, although Simon admits to giving him a boost based off of his offensive prowess. He pegged Murphy between 2.0-2.5 WAR which is anywhere from fair to slightly optimistic in my opinion. Murphy is a valuable offensive asset, but his defense is a liability considering Zack Wheeler and Jon Niese generate a lot of groundballs and this organization’s success is literally founded on maximizing the results of the pitching staff. I think the writing is on the wall for Daniel and trading him will open the door for the unforeseen x-factor (i.e. prospect being called up) who Simon believes will give the Mets a “boost”.

Other factors contributing to a 40 WAR season are the bullpen and the bench. Personally, this bullpen looks great and the bench is poised to add the right amount of offense. It’s no secret, the starters are going to have to stay healthy in order for the above scenarios to happen.

What do you ladies and gentleman think? Are the Mets capable of producing a 40 WAR season and/or making the playoffs with this current roster?

The following is an in depth look at Travis d’Arnaud’s overall value as a catcher. The idea that he is incapable of being an everyday backstop is based on two conventional defensive metrics. The lack of credit surrounding his framing skills leaves something to be desired though. Stolen bases and passed balls rarely result in a run scored for the opposition, yet a framed pitch always produces a positive effect. The two fold advantage of a called strike versus a ball can be felt by the opposition, the pitching staff, the offense, even the entire division. If weighted properly, what could the value of d’Arnaud’s framing skills mean for his future and that of the NY Mets?

Scott Lindholm from Beyond The Box Score did an excellent job collecting and analyzing stolen base data that was recorded from 1950-2010 (Tom Tango – “Run Expectancy Matrix”) only to find that over the last 60+ years, stolen base attempts have proven largely inefficient. The Kansas City Royals did make it to the World Series last year as the only MLB team with more stolen bases than home runs, so I do understand that the art of thievery has its rightful place in the game. However, take a look at some of the following statistics as they pertain to d’Arnaud.

A runners best odds of stealing first to second are when there are zero outs, yet doing so only increases the opposition’s odds of scoring a run by 20%. Take a moment to appreciate the inverse of that statement. That means that at least 80% of the time second base is stolen, it’s unlikely to result in a run scored- 80%. Granted, these numbers only go up to 2010, but 60 years of data is a reasonable sample size to support the last four seasons.

The matrix also shows that having a solid caught stealing rate behind the plate significantly decreases the oppositions odds of scoring a run in that inning – it sounds obvious, but look at what I mean. From 1993-2010, throwing out the runner at second actually decreased the opposition’s chances of scoring a run, in that inning, by 26.3%. It’s only fair to point out that improvements in this area can offer significant upside.

The runner’s success increases greatly as he progresses around the diamond, but to be honest, throws to third base are infrequent and d’Arnaud has already shown excellent positioning and execution with home plate defense. The attempts on second base from first are the real issue, but it’s very reasonable to expect vast improvements after a full offseason of training.

Defense, aside from pitch framing, was a priority for d’Arnaud, even when he was still with the Toronto Blue Jays. While reading a pitch blocking analysis on TDA (Amazin’ Avenue), I noticed an excerpt from Baseball America back in 2012:

“d’Arnaud made good strides with his defense in 2011 by working with then-New Hampshire manager Sal Butera, who caught in the majors for nine seasons. Those improvements carried over to 2012, when d’Arnaud threw out a career-high 30 percent of basestealers. He has average to plus arm strength and has refined his footwork and throwing accuracy.”

If the opposition steals a base, it’s worth a 20% in their favor. If d’Arnaud throws them out, it’s worth 26.3% in the Mets favor. Point being, he needs to improve his 19% caught stealing rate because the positive upswing holds a lot of value, but shows a history of improving in this area. Working with Mike Barwis will improve his explosiveness and the surgically removed bone chips in his throwing elbow will certainly improve the accuracy of his throws. As far as last year’s stats though, this narrative that base runners will cost him his job is such a stretch.

Also on Beyond the Box Score was a great piece by Rob Castellano, who wrote about the value of d’Arnaud’s pitch blocking, or lack thereof, except unlike many- he compared that value to impact of his pitch framing skills. The net value is surprisingly positive, enough to make you wonder how so many justified knocking his flaws when the upside to his best attribute is so high.

D’Arnaud is adept at controlling the very bottom of the strike zone. Castellano offers a reasonable explanation for the young backstop’s elevated number of passed pitches by comparing TDA’s skills to one of framing’s original pioneers, Jose Molina, during his time with the Tampa Bay Rays.

“In short, there seems to be an element of robbing Peter to pay Paul when it comes to framing pitches, except teams like the Rays have realized that Paul brings back much higher rates of return…d’Arnaud keeps on calling for those breaking balls in the dirt, difficult to block though they may be, because those are also the pitches he’s going to have the best chance to ‘steal’ from his opponent”

In the article, Costellano included an analysis by Max Marchi (Baseball Prospectus) on the run value for blocked versus framed pitches. From 2008-2011, Carlos Ruiz was considered the best pitch blocking catcher in MLB with 9.5 blocking runs created.

However, what’s interesting is the stark difference in value for catchers who focus more on framing. During that same four year period, Brian McCann was the best framing catcher, generating 79.3 runs with his glove work. Costellano adds:

“Based on linear weights, the very best framers were worth, on average, over ten times as many runs as the top blockers.”

Current advanced catching metrics on Baseball Prospectus are built further on the work that Marchi did, but still stay consistent with the weight he applied.

In 2014, d’Arnaud was worth -2.7 blocking runs for the 22 passed pitches (passed balls + wild pitches) assigned to him, but added 11.2 runs off of the 75.1 extra strikes he created. That means d’Arnaud was worth a net of +8.5 runs based on framing alone.

These results in other areas of the NY Mets though, particularly the young starters Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom.

August Fagerstrom (FanGraphs) evaluated Zack Wheeler’s historic 0-2 hit(less) streak that went deep into the month of August (couldn’t have written in September?). Fagerstrom credited the increased effectiveness of Wheelers breaking pitches down in the zone as the catalyst for his hitless streak. Granted, most pitchers perform at their best in 0-2 counts, but Wheeler was in the midst of what may have been a major league record had the data gone back far enough to prove it.

Zack produced some of the best results in the league with his curveball and slider once he was paired up permanently with TDA:

Wheeler appears to have more confidence in his slider. He appears to have more confidence in his curve. Both for good reasons. You can see these changes reflected in his two-strike heatmaps…his highly-praised curveball is up to 33% from 27% last year and his whiff percentage has gone from 10% to 15%. Now, that curveball finds itself on the other side of the spectrum, grading out as a top-25 curveball.

Also…

“Wheeler has doubled the use of his slider against left-handed batters, from 6% to 12%. That’s good, because lefties have gotten exactly one hit off Wheeler’s slider this year [as of August 28th]. 14 of the 28 strikeouts Wheeler has generated with the slider have come against lefties.”

It’s nearly impossible to say that d’Arnaud didn’t directly impact those results, Wheeler has even said himself:

“He’s just smooth back there…when the balls are down, he does something that makes them look like they’re strikes.”

With a full season behind the plate, d’Arnaud could increase his framing value significantly. The most efficient way to do it would be to up that value, while also decreasing the number of passed balls. As Costellano pointed out, he has a preference for breaking balls in the dirt in order to ‘steal’ that strike from the hitter, but fastballs are a lot easier to catch and his framing skills are perfect for stealing heaters located just below the bottom of the zone.

Fastball location is the staple of any power pitcher’s arsenal (i.e., the very foundation by which this organization is built on). Wheeler, deGrom and Matt Harvey all rely on the pitches down in the zone to strikeout hitters and according to Noah Syndergaard’s recent interview with SNY, this is what the Mets are looking to see from him before he earns a promotion. It’s also the reason why many see Steven Matz as a candidate to challenge Syndergaard for a promotion. Pitching down in the zone has earned him praise at such an early stage in his career.

Take a look at that ESPN heat map again and keep that horseshoe figure in mind when you watch this clip of deGrom’s 13 strikeout performance against the Miami Marlins. TDA had a 2.65 cERA with deGrom on the year and much of that had to do with the deceptive location of Jacob’s two and four seam fastballs. If d’Arnaud can replicate this type of game calling with Harvey, Wheeler and eventually Syndergaard and Matz – the ceiling for his glove is very high.

Hopefully the idea here is starting to become clearer. The Mets have a healthy crop of power pitchers who attack the bottom of the strike zone regularly with high 90’s fastballs and slick breaking pitches. When it comes to this organizations most prized assets, the arms we’ve all been waiting for, TDA is subtly maximizing their value.

Lastly, I want to make good on that comment I made about the division. Costellano also included a piece by Jeff Sullivan (Grantland), which calculated the called strike effect on all 30 teams in baseball last year. Basically, there were teams who benefited greatly from pitch framing, teams who suffered from it and those somewhere in the middle.

The NL, with the exception of the Mets, is baron in terms of framing catchers. This makes the effect of d’Arnaud’s glove incredibly significant, again with a two-fold effect. He’s able to steal from the opposition, while the rest of the division finds themselves being robbed and unable to return the favor.

The Mets benefited from the fifth highest positive total, registering 147 strikes in their favor. The rest of the NL East experienced much less of an advantage. The Phillies (+33), Nationals (-92), Braves (-197) and Marlins (-262) were far behind the Amazins and the impact is definitely significant. Consider the difference from the top and bottom teams in the whole league:

“What does a single strike mean? Calculations in the past have put the value of an extra strike somewhere around 0.14 runs. That’s not very much, but then, you can do the multiplication. These things add up fast. If you use that estimate, then the difference between the Brewers and the Blue Jays, here, comes out to about 95 runs, just from pitch-framing alone.”

Ok, so the difference isn’t that beneficial for the Mets, but using those calculations, I was able to derive run differential enjoyed by the Mets by comparison to their divisional opponents. NY had a 16 run advantage over the Phillies, 34 run advantage over the Braves, 48 runs over the Nationals and 57 runs over the Marlins.

There are a number of studies on the number of runs equal to a win, but the general consensus is between 10-11 runs per 1 win. Using conservative estimates (11 runs/Win), pitch framing gave the Mets a 4 win advantage over the Nationals last year and a 5 win advantage over the Marlins. It’s going to be a tight race against those bottom two teams specifically, that kind of win advantage could be the difference in the division title.

I wrote about d’Arnaud’s offensive upside earlier this year and that, combined with what I was able to take out of the above, tells me this. For once, the Mets landed in the right place, with the right players, at the right time.

Kevin Kernan (New York Post) collected the thoughts of one of NY’s emerging young pitchers, Zack Wheeler, who has become more vocal this offseason as the team approaches what should be a turning point. 2015 is being presented as the year when excuses will be laid to rest and winning will be restored.

“…Wheeler likes what he sees about the Mets…He took the bullpen mound on Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex, an area called the “six-pack”. Matt Harvey stood on the mound to his right while Jacob deGrom was on his left.”

“That was cool”, Wheeler noted later that day. Yes, yes it is. Every time I hear those three names mentioned in the same sentence, I get excited about going watching three aces compete. Not just against the opposition, but against each other as well. Matt Harvey obviously gets the nod at the moment, but I’d be surprised if deGrom or Wheeler let him run away with it. That’s going to be fun to watch.

Kernan adds that “Some are criticizing the Mets’ young players for speaking their minds and saying the franchise finally is on its way back to the postseason.”

Hey. Baseball is fun, and even Wheeler admits that the clubhouse is rapidly changing. “We are all from different places…but we all have the same things in common”, he said. “We all like to joke around, give each other a hard time. We all get along. Nobody is too serious.”

This exactly how it should be. The well balanced dynamic of personalities and abilities is such an improvement from where the team was this time last year.

As far as how other players are progressing this offseason, Wheeler adds “Obviously, Matt took The Show by storm and so did deGrom. Me and Noah [Syndergaard] may be a little bit different, so I think that’s always the thing, you can’t really compare pitchers to their success because they did unrealistic things.”

This is very true, Syndergaard clearly has the body, the velocity and the stuff- but the Mets need to see a few more improvements out of the 21 year old phenom’s execution before he punches his ticket. And that’s alright, it’s normal, especially at his age.

On the position players who’ll be surrounding him all season. “I think his shoulder will be fine…David [Wright] has been down here working hard [all] offseason, and I think [Curtis] Granderson knows his body…what’s he’s been doing wrong…I think Kevin [Long, hitting coach] can help him with that.”

How does he feel about his first baseman? “If [Lucas] Duda stays healthy, he is going to have a big year…he’s not going to go out of his way to talk to anybody…but he works hard, wants to get to the top and be the best.”

It’s great to see Wheeler have such a detailed understanding of his teammates and the desire to go out of his way to speak on their behalf to reporters. I don’t want to hear Fred or Jeff Wilpon speak anymore. Although I support the majority of work Sandy Alderson has done, I don’t want to hear him talk anymore either. Same goes for Terry Collins. To me, they all still represent a different side of this organization that I’d rather compartmentalize and just focus on the joy of baseball. I like that this is what Wheeler and the rest of his teammates are doing too.

Who cares what others are saying, no one has ever believed in the Mets, other than their fans. Right now, this year, it’d be nice to forget what’s happened and look forward to some great baseball that we can root for again.

The date is Tuesday, October 6, 2015 and we made it. Finally. After 8 draining tedious seasons, the Mets have returned to the post-season. 90 wins netted us the second wildcard spot. In order to face St. Louis in the LDS and avenge 2006 all we must do is win a one-game wild card elimination. Jacob deGrom (18-9 3.25 ERA) vs. Clayton Kershaw (21-5, 2.73 ERA).

Kershaw seems to have finally shaken his post-season woes. That is, until the top of the 7th when Lucas Duda plants one beyond the RF wall knocking in Lagares and Wright. The Mets need just 9 more outs. But the 7th inning stretch galvanizes the capacity crowd. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins (of all people) notices the corner infielders playing back and legs out a perfectly executed bunt for a lead-off single. The fans get loud. Carl Crawford clobbers deGrom’s next offering. Curtis Granderson turns and runs, snagging the high fly against the wall for the first out. 27 year-old deGrom is rattled. He takes a deep breath, paces, tries to regroup and wipes the sweat from his brow as Yasiel Puig digs in. Puig splits two outfielders. A double. The Dodgers, trailing 3-0, have runners on second and third. The tying run, represented by Adrian Gonzalez (.279-32-118) steps to the plate.

Eight more stinkin’ outs. Mets fans are growing restless, anticipating the worst. 56,238 Dodgers fans rise to their feet in an attempt to unnerve the Mets starter. It’s all happened so quick that Terry Collins hasn’t had a chance to get someone loose. The Mets need to stall. DeGrom needs to calm down. Mets fans scream at the TV for Collins to go the mound and buy some time for the bullpen. Why isn’t Duda sharing some words of encouragement??? Why is David Wright, our captain, just standing there??? How come Travis d’Arnaud isn’t calling time and walking to the mound to calm down the young pitcher the way Gary Carter did with Doc Gooden? DeGrom, nervous, losing composure and about to blow it, is left all alone. What the hell is going on??? Is this the Twilight Zone??? Where’s Rod Serling???

Then we remember. “Oh, yea. We’ve used up our allotted time-outs.” Welcome to the Rob Manfred version of Major League Baseball. You know, the version where games took too darn long and needed to be sped up.

One of the countless aspects that make baseball the greatest game ever devised is the link from generation to generation. For well over a century the National Pastime has remained relatively unchanged. A .300 hitter means something, no matter if it’s me cheering Jose Reyes, my father cheering Jackie Robinson or my grandfather cheering Babe Herman. A 20-game winner is a 20-game winner, be it Doc Gooden, Tom Seaver or Christy Mathewson. 200 K’s means the same to Randy Johnson as it did to Walter Johnson. The only significant alteration to the rules occurred in 1973. And more than 40 years after one league installed the DH, fans are still divided.

The powers-that-be began tinkering with the Holy Grail of the game, the rule book, because of what transpired in Florida on May 25, 2011. On a play at home, Scott Cousins collided with Giants catcher Buster Posey. The defending Rookie of the Year suffered torn ligaments and a fractured fibula. For all intents and purposes, the Giants season was finished before Memorial Day. MLB felt, for whatever reason, changes needed to be made. And so began the descent down a perilous slope that could have a long lasting impact on the game we cherish.

There is nothing more exciting than witnessing a player rounding third and heading for home as the catcher plants his feet waiting for the relay throw. Nothing can bring an entire stadium to their feet quicker than anticipating a play at the plate. Both at the ballpark and watching from home our stomachs tighten. We hold our collective breath. Can the runner knock the ball free? Can the catcher apply the tag?

Beginning last year that thrilling aspect was removed. You could clearly see the confusion all season long. Runners were uncertain where their lane was. Catchers were tentative about where they were permitted to stand. Protecting a run became secondary to abiding to some silly rule. (As a side note, how many knew that the rule was amended during the season where catchers could NOT block the plate but position players COULD?)

Was Posey’s injury catastrophic? Absolutely. The 2011 Giants still managed to win 86 games, falling just 4 short of the wildcard. Surely, had Posey not been injured, he himself is worth 4 wins. However, MLB overreacted. Yes, catchers do get hurt. But that’s part of the game. And think about it. How often does that really occur? We see more injuries on routine plays. If MLB feels compelled to prevent injuries, what’s next?

More common is a batter pulling a hamstring sprinting down the 1B line trying to beat out a slow roller. How about a player rounding 2nd and turning on the afterburners. (Jose Reyes anyone?) We see players jamming thumbs stealing a base. Perhaps MLB should create a Designated Runner. We have a Designated Hitter so why not? Every player could have one DR assigned to them. Rosters would increase to 50, the union would be happy and star players we pay admission to see would never get hurt.

Another way to prevent injuries could be prohibiting outfielders from crashing into the wall. Hey, we already have a warning track. Let’s put it to good use. If the outfielder can’t catch the ball before trespassing onto the warning track, that’s just too darn bad. (If such a rule existed twenty years ago, think of all those extra games Ken Griffey Jr. would not have missed. He’d probably be the HR King, not Barry Bonds.)

And pitchers? They are both the highest paid AND most often injured. Maybe MLB should outlaw the curve ball. And while they’re at it, they can outlaw the fast ball, too. After all, more batters are injured getting hit by a pitch than runners colliding at the plate. Perhaps we should reduce a strikeout to two strikes, a walk to three balls? How about extending the base paths from 90 feet to 110 feet. C’mon, let’s get the baseball thing over with in a hurry so we can all go back to seeing which Kardashian is pregnant this week.

Of course I’m being sarcastic. But based on recent changes, I’m not ruling out anything. In the Arizona Fall League MLB looked into methods to speed up the game. Some of the changes tested include:

• Batter’s box rule: Hitter required to keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout at-bat unless there is foul ball, wild pitch or passed ball — or if a pitch forces him out or the umpire grants “time.”

• No-pitch intentional walks

• 20-second rule: 20-second clock will be posted in each dugout, behind home plate and in outfield to prevent pitchers from taking too much time.

• 2:05 inning-break clock: Maximum time allowed between innings, and batters must be in box at 1:45 mark or umpire can call automatic strike. If pitcher throws pitch after 2:05, umpire may call ball.

• Three “timeout” limit: Teams limited to three trips to the mound by managers, coaches and catchers during game, except pitching changes.

Commissioner Manfred is also looking into outlawing defensive shifts, removing strategy from the most strategic game there is. That in and of itself is a mixed signal and demonstrates MLB is utterly clueless. On one hand they install policies to make games shorter. On the other hand, recent changes do just the opposite.

With the advent of a ‘challenge’ or ‘play under review,’ the game that supposedly already moves too slowly now comes to a grinding halt. Players on the field, fans in the stands and viewers at home now watch with baited breath as umpires stand in a circle wearing headsets conversing with some guy in a darkened chamber high above Manhattan like the mysterious shadowy “banker” in that Howie Mandel game show. During the course of a game this alone could add anywhere from 8-12 minutes. If they’re willing to delay a game to make sure the call is correct, isn’t it equally important to honor the history of the game itself and not mess around with lunacy such as pitch clocks?

Another contradiction from the incoming commissioner is his desire to bring offense back to the game. Outlawing defensive shifts will see the return of 9-7 slugfests instead of well-played 3-2 pitching duels. Yet, we all know a 9-7 game takes longer to play than a 3-2 game.

Making games shorter will not help ratings. Those who find Baseball “boring” and “slow-moving” will not suddenly become fans and purchase Mike Trout jerseys. And those of us who are purists will take umbrage to tinkering with the very essence of the game we treasure, the game taught to us by our dad or older brother. They need to stop mucking up the beauty of Baseball with hare-brained attempts to outdraw Football. Yes, 112 million TV sets were tuned into the Super Bowl last weekend while an average of just 13.8 million viewers watched the World Series last October. But so what? Kanye West has sold more records than Jimi Hendrix. That doesn’t mean he’s better.

For more than 100 years Baseball has survived every conceivable transgression imaginable. Racists, bigots and anti-Semites have worn the uniform. But the game endured. Games have been fixed, an entire World Series was thrown. But the game endured. Some of the greatest players to ever walk on the field have been shamed and may never be enshrined in Cooperstown. But the game endured. Alcoholics, cocaine addicts and steroid users have played. But the game endured. Free agency, collusion, teams relocating, some franchises completely folded. But the game endured. Two World Wars and conflicts from Southeast Asia to Central America have taken place. But the game endured. On a Tuesday morning, terror came to New York City, Washington DC and western Pennsylvania. The game stopped. But after ten days, endured. Hopefully the game will be able to endure these potentially catastrophic changes.

“Baseball must be a great game. The owners haven’t found a way to kill it yet.” – Bill Veeck

The date is Tuesday, October 6, 2015 and we made it. Finally. After 8 draining tedious seasons, the Mets have returned to the post-season.

It’s the top of the 9th in Los Angeles. The Mets squandered a 3-0 lead and now trail 4-3. Closer Kenley Jansen is on the hill to close it out and send the Mets home on a long cross-country flight. After retiring the first 2 batters, 56,238 Dodgers fans are on their feet. They smell blood. Juan Lagares keeps our hopes alive and bloops one over the outstretched glove of Jimmy Rollins. Daniel Murphy fights off a wicked 0-2 cut fastball and shoots one down the first base line, just beyond the reach of Adrian Gonzalez. Lagares motors around to 3B.

Trailing 4-3, tying run on third and potential winning run at first. David Wright, candidate for Comeback Player of the Year (302-26-107) digs in. After falling behind 0-2, he fights off pitch after pitch after pitch. He fouls off close pitches, lays off others just off the black and works the count to 3-2. The capacity crowd is going crazy. Fans in New York are pacing in their living rooms.

Don Mattingly on the top step of the Dodger dugout. Terry Collins and various Mets on the top step of the visiting dugout. The camera, shaking due to vibration of chaotic screaming fans, scans the crowd. There’s Tommy LaSorda in the owner’s box staring wide-eyed at the field. We catch a glimpse of Jerry Seinfeld sitting behind the Mets dugout, cap pulled down over his eyes, too nervous to watch. We get a quick shot of Keith Hernandez in the broadcast booth, his hands clutching an imaginary bat, willing himself on the field as if its 1986 all over again. Catcher A.J. Ellis puts down one finger, pats his left thigh. Fast Ball inside. Jensen checks the runners and sets. Wright grips the bat.

Suddenly, as the fire-balling closer is ready to deliver, a slight breeze kicks up and blows something into Wright’s eye. The entire season is on the line. But David isn’t allowed to step out or ask for time because the rules now prohibit that since we need to get done quickly. Jensen fires a 98 MPH heater. And our entire season comes down to a one-eyed David Wright.

Speaking with reporters at the Winter Meetings, Sandy Alderson shifted gears again and now says it’s more likely the Mets acquire a shortstop upgrade via free agency, rather than the original plan which was to execute a trade using the Mets’ pitching depth.

This certainly changes a lot for the team, who had several high end, team friendly options to build a trade around. But the issue was always the asking price for the Mets. The Cubs wanted more than one front end starter for Starlin Castro, who was an All-Star three out of his first four full seasons in the league, but lacked the complete set of tools worth the caliber of a pitcher like Zack Wheeler or Jacob deGrom.

In a different age and time, both of those pitchers would have been a reasonable asking price for a high end offensive minded shortstop like Castro. Today, the game is evolving quickly from power hitting to power pitching and Alderson wisely held on to his most valuable assets.

The Mets have drafted, traded for and groomed some incredible prospects, and so far many of them have panned out and met the hype surrounding them. Again, it’s the timing that makes it so special too. Just take a look at the Atlanta Braves as they scramble to restructure their organization. They’re assembling a team that resembles that of the Mets, Marlins and Nationals; power pitching complimented by offense, not the other way around.

The shortstop situation now likely includes names like Jed Lowrie, Asdrubal Cabrera and Stephen Drew although Lowrie and Drew would be strictly for defensive purposes with Cabrera being the complete opposite. Truthfully, a strong defensive minded shortstop to couple with Juan Lagares up the middle could give the Mets a combination of pitching and defense that could vault them into contention. A healthy and productive David Wright, Curtis Granderson and Michael Cuddyer would also do wonders to support this pitching and defense for an overall balanced attack.

Sandy Alderson also shot down statements made by Terry Collins suggesting that Ruben Tejada would be competing with Wilmer Flores for the starting shortstop job this Spring. “I guess conceptually it’s a possibility. They’ll both be there.”

Honestly, I get the impression from Sandy that he’s hard at work while those around him are hard at work making his work harder. In those moments, he’s had a sense of humor and if you sit back and think of how frustrating it must be for him to manage and change the perception of this team, you have to give the man some credit.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how all of this ultimately plays out for the Amazins.

Last year’s free agent class included quite a few short term deals for starting pitchers. Mets GM Sandy Alderson signed 41-year old righthander Bartolo Colon to a two year $20 million deal last winter and the veteran proved to be a durable workhorse who led the Mets this season with 202.1 innings pitched. The deal itself served a purpose and proved useful in 2014, but over the scope of the full two years, it now looks like more of an obstacle, despite the underlying need for insurance within the rotation.

The Mets are built on young power pitching. The rotation of the future may eventually come full circle this year, by that I’m including top prospects Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz. Couple those two prospects with a font line that includes Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom and a healthy Matt Harvey, and the Mets’ best case scenario is a beauty. However when is it reasonable to make decisions based on best case scenarios?

With all the 20-something power arms the team has under control, there’s an element of durability and experience that’s missing from that group of young men. There’s such an intense focus within the Mets community on finding a power hitter while the future of the rotation is being buoyed by lofty assumptions. It’s assumed that Harvey will return without a hitch, but even if he did, the Mets will likely follow an innings limit plan that mimics the program administered for Stephen Strasburg. Jacob deGrom was dominant down the final stretch of the season, but even he served time on the DL with what turned out to be nothing more than fatigue from an increased workload in the majors. Jon Niese and Dillon Gee have been mainstays in the middle of the rotation for several years now, but between their 10 combined seasons (not including rookie years), only three have amounted to more than 185 innings.

If Colon’s purpose was to secure innings around a fragile, inexperienced group, it seems premature to be shopping the remaining year on his contract this winter. The $11 million left on the deal has proven difficult to move off the books, which is understandable considering he’ll be 42 next season. Also, his inaugural season with the Mets wouldn’t necessarily warrant that salary either. Bartolo ended the year with a 4.09 ERA and nearly 1 home run per 9 innings of baseball (0.98), by comparison, his deal may not have been the best fit of all the free agent candidates available.

In hindsight, Phil Hughes‘ performance in 2014, as well as his contract, made much more sense for the Mets in many facets. In his first year out of pinstripes, Hughes revived his once promising career as a Minnesota Twin. He was a better pitcher than Colon and the numbers clearly illustrate this. Compared to 2013 with the Yankees, Phil had 16 wins (+12), 4 losses (-4) and 209 innings pitched (+64) for the Twins this year. The 2014 WAR he posted of 6.1 was fourth best among qualified starting pitchers in the majors. His home run per nine innings rate (HR/9) dropped by 53%, resulting in a more aggressive approach around the strike zone and a massive 73% reduction in walks per nine innings (BB/9).

In reality, all Sandy wanted was a solid innings-eater for half a season, with the understanding that if he wasn’t moved off the books by the All-Star break, it wouldn’t cripple the team’s 2014 season. The gamble in giving Colon that second guaranteed year was banking that the contract could be moved before 2015 when Harvey would finally rejoin the rotation. That has come and gone and now the real hurdle will be executing what is perceived to be the original plan and shop Colon heavily during the winter meetings. The general feeling is that the Mets can retain a balanced mix of hard throwing youngsters and experienced veterans before the remaining prospects are fully developed, but this will put the Mets out of budget to acquire an offensive upgrade. Which brings us to this current conundrum.

A team with as much young talent as the Mets have right now… A team that’s now strong enough to start talking about being a contender… A team like at this given point in its evolution needs a healthy amount of operating room (financial flexibility) to strike when the time is right.

This Mets pitching staff could play out a number of different ways over the next two to three years, but one thing is clear. The Mets now have most of the pieces in place to overcome the final hurdle and vault themselves into contention. But it may also require a willingness to add a high value free agent(s), even if it means a contract in upwards of three years in length.

Does this mean completing the final piece of the puzzle with a round of reckless spending? Of course not. Spending doesn’t always have to be reckless, just ask the Cardinals, Orioles and Giants. Perhaps the missing piece isn’t even out there right now, that’s for the front office to decide. But the point I’m trying to make is that it’s reasonable to expect this level of dedication and commitment from ownership and the front office if in fact this latest 90 win mandate in 2015 has any real backbone or truthfulness to it.

Mets rookie starting pitcher Jacob deGrom is considered the heavy favorite to win the 2014 NL Rookie Of the Year award. This was further verified today when the Sporting News announced the results of their annual player’s poll which is released prior to the official award.

I’ll give you the skinny on deGrom’s season, but most of you know the numbers by now.

DeGrom had 22 starts for the Mets this season and pitched 140 1/3 innings to the tune of a 2.69 ERA. Among all starting pitchers with at least 100 innings of work, deGrom ranked 15th in strikeouts per nine innings (9.24) and xFIP (3.03).

“I’m very honored to receive this prestigious award,” deGrom told the Sporting News.

“My teammates were a huge reason for my success. Individual honors are nice but what excites me the most is looking forward to next year and helping the Mets reach the postseason.”

As the Sporting News notes, deGrom was pitching lights out over his last few starts and ended the season on an upward trend. This not only bodes well for next year’s expectations, but also makes the 26 year old Florida native a clear frontrunner for the official award which is announced on November 10th by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The Mets have a solid foundation of pitching to go with a young core of position players, many of whom emerged as stars in 2014. The team is no longer looking to rebuild, their disenchanted fan base has high expectations and a New York based franchise stocked with farm talent should have no trouble making a high impact acquisition in the offseason. In all reality, the winter spending is questionable, although team COO Jeff Wilpon did state that payroll flexibility is available going into 2015. Regardless, the Mets minor league system is so rich in power pitching that almost any team should be open to making the right deal. It makes more sense to seek out the best talent in the league first before signing someone out of a weak free agent class.

If the Mets are going to part ways with blue chip prospects, it should net a return that will hurdle the team into contention. The player should be young, approaching the peak of their power range and under a team friendly contract for multiple years. The “Red Sox Model” of investing in mid-premium talent works when your home ballpark turns routine fly-outs into doubles and doubles into home runs, but Citi Field’s dimensions don’t offer that luxury. Enter Starlin Castro.

The Cubs’ 24 year old shortstop is a flat out stud at his position and his 2014 performance was certainly worthy of his third All-Star selection. Among all qualified major league shortstops, Starlin was 1st in batting average (.292), 2nd in OBP (.339), 3rd in SLG (.438), OPS (.777) and wOBA (.341). If you look at the list of qualified shortstops under the age of 30, Castro is number one in all those categories.

In 134 games (season shortened by a sprained ankle), he posted 14 home runs (5th) and 65 RBI’s (7th). He played 161 games in 2013 and 162 in 2012, so it’s reasonable to expect an uptick in those figures if he’d played a full season.

The Mets struggled to hit the ball with men on base this season and it was undoubtedly the difference in a long list of close games that resulted in missing the playoffs for an 8th straight season. Castro’s bat has the stats to qualify him as a difference maker in this category. For his career (2010-2014), he has a (.297) batting average and a (.342) OBP when men are on base.

Equally important is the fact that his production doesn’t dip at Citi Field. It’s rare for any player not wearing a Nationals uniform to maintain their home field production in Flushing, so how does Castro stack up? Starlin played his first game at Citi Field in 2011 and has posted encouraging numbers there since. His career (.304) batting average and (.429) slugging percentage at Citi deviates in an upward direction from his overall career numbers, but only slightly, and certainly not enough to be considered skewed. His ability to hit for average with plus power in Queens should be the most relevant stat line of them all.

The cost is where the debate lies. The asking price in assets is going to be steep and it should be, Castro is a top young talent at a premium position for a relatively cheap price. The five years and $43 million left on his very team friendly contract comes with a one-year option for 2020, when he’ll only be 30.

The Cubs aren’t going to settle for a straight up one-for-one trade because that would be a clear signal that GM Theo Epstein is unfit for his job. Realistically, they’ll want some combination of a highly touted front end starter (Zack Wheeler/Jacob deGrom/Noah Syndergaard) and a not quite elite, but still top prospect (Rafael Montero/Steven Matz). The Mets might be able to work a Kevin Plawecki into the conversation in order to take one of the top end starters off the table, but the Cubs aren’t totally devoid at catcher and they’re deep at every other position on the field, so it’ll likely come down to strictly pitching.

The Cubs’ bullpen ranked 15th in ERA and gave up the 8th most earned runs in the majors this season, so a top end reliever could be a piece, with a front of the rotation starter, to push a deal over the top. But that depends on the value Chicago will get initially. For instance, any deal that includes Matz as the second piece instead of Montero is probably where the Mets will end their offer.

My Take

It’s not just the production Castro would bring, but the attention he would take off of David Wright, who desperately needs to revitalize his output after an injury riddled season that included a number of career lows. Having Starlin in the #2 hole with Lucas Duda cleaning up behind him would create a lot of opportunities for David, who has carried this offense plenty of times before. There’s lots of time left to evaluate all the options the Mets have, but if Sandy Alderson is going to acquire a proven top talent at shortstop, Castro is where the conversation should start.

The New York Mets wrapped up their 2014 campaign at Citi Field yesterday, taking two out of three from the Houston Astros to finish 79-83 on the year. The Amazins’ concluded their final two games with authority as they head into a highly anticipated offseason. Below are the series takeaways in this edition of 3 & 3.

3 Up

1. In front of a crowd of nearly 35,000 fans, which included his parents, Lucas Duda smashed his 30th home run of the season and rounded out one of the most hysterical dugout celebrations I’ve ever seen on television. The two-run jack was his 14th at home this year, the most by any player at Citi Field in a single season and it was a total no-doubter. To witness a player discover his power stroke in Flushing, in a lineup where he is the protection, is just remarkable. For the series, Duda hit (.333), slugged (.917) and totaled an OPS of (1.250) to go with his 6 RBI’s and 2 runs scored.

2. Matt den Dekker turned in one of the best series of his brief Major League career, going 4 for 10 (.400) with an RBI and a run scored. The majority of writers, fans and critics believe the Mets would benefit from another power bat in the lineup and feel that left field is the most logical position for such an acquisition. However, den Dekker put up a strong fight towards the end season to throw his name in the conversation. In the month of September, he hit .328, got on base at a .426 clip and posted an .858 OPS. After being in center for the majority of his amateur and professional career, den Dekker made great adjustments defensively and played a strong left field. An outfield tandem of den Dekker in left and Juan Lagares in center is about as ‘lock-down’ as you can get. I’m probably in the minority here, but barring any overwhelming offers, I’d like to retain the pitching we’d use to trade for an outfielder and watch Matt back them up in left.

3. In the 5th inning of yesterday’s game, Bobby Abreu knocked the 2,470th hit of his 18 year MLB career. Immediately after, Abreu left to a standing ovation as Eric Young Jr. came in to pinch run for the veteran. Citi Field sent the former All-Star off with a warm and joyous applause, but many see this as merely the beginning of Abreu’s career as a Met. The front office believes he had a positive influence on the many young call-ups in search of guidance this season and find his offensive approach to be identical to the organizations hitting philosophy. MLB.com’s Tim Healey summed up the end to Abreu’s storied career nicely, noting that he “was playing against the organization with which he got his professional start (the Astros), playing for the team against which he collected his first big league hit (the Mets), and playing under the same manager as when he was a 22-year-old September callup in 1996 (Collins).” Congratulations Bobby, may all the good fortune that followed you as a ball player continue in the next chapter of your life.

3 Down

1. Jon Niese battled injuries and discomfort all season and ended up leaving Friday’s game early with the return of an accelerated heart rate. Overall, Bartolo Colon was the only Mets pitcher to reach 200+ innings this season. Zack Wheeler came close at 185.1 and despite the fact that he remained healthy all year, he consistently suffered from high pitch counts that forced him to routinely exit games in the 5th or 6th inning. Dillon Gee was also no stranger to the disabled list. Matt Harvey will be coming off of Tommy John Surgery and undoubtedly be under an innings limit and Jacob deGrom, aside from an outstanding rookie campaign, battled shoulder soreness with a stint on the DL. For a team that is grounded in its young starting pitching, there’s a component of durability that’s certainly missing.

2. The Mets did tie for second place, but did so with a losing record for the 6th straight season. The club hasn’t made it to the playoffs in 8 straight seasons now and aside from the “additions” they’ll be getting from the disabled list, it doesn’t appear that much will change heading into 2015. If the team can stay healthy all season, I think we have the pieces to be relevant, at least in the wild card standings, but I hope the front office has a better back up plan than AAA Las Vegas should the youth initiative fall through next year.

3. The season is over with and I’ll still be paying an outrageous cable bill even though I’ll have nothing to watch. Here’s to Spring Training 2015, down in Port St. Lucie.

A special thank you to all those who followed along with 3 & 3 this season, I learned a tremendous amount from all of those who added their input. I also realized that expanding my thoughts on the Mets through MMO is a true passion of mine, so a special thank you to Joe D and all the MMO staff for allowing me to be a part of such a great entity. The writing was as therapeutic as the season was frustrating, but I would not have enjoyed 2014 as much as I did had it not been for Mets Merized Online.

The Mets are finishing up on a strong note and played a great series down in Atlanta this weekend. Below are the usual takeaways in this edition of 3 & 3.

3 Up

1. The starting pitching was excellent in this series, particularly the guys making the league minimum, Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom. Wheeler went 6.0 innings, allowed 5 hits, struck out 7 batters and held the opposition scoreless. It was Zack’s 21st quality start on the year, the most among Mets starters in 2014. It was also his 11th win, pushing his record over the .500 mark with only one start left on the year. deGrom was stellar as well, going 6.0 innings, allowing 3 hits and one earned run while striking out 10. What else can be said about deGrom at this point? He’s a stud and along with Wheeler and Matt Harvey, the Mets will have one of the best rotations in all of baseball next year.

2. Curtis Granderson is finishing up the year strong. The veteran went 5 for 10 in the series (.500) and posted a 1.615 OPS. In the month of September, Curtis is batting .308, slugging .569 and getting on base at a .400 clip. He also has 13 RBI’s to go along with 12 runs scored during that time frame.

3. Lucas Duda hit his 28th home run of the year in yet another crucial situation to put the Mets ahead 2-0 in the sixth inning of Friday’s game. While it’s easy to admire Duda’s raw power, he still doesn’t get enough credit for how talented an offensive player he is outside the home run department. A perfect example was Saturday’s game, where Lucas went 0 for 3 at the plate, but still contributed an RBI on a sacrifice fly and drew a walk to get on base. Overall, Duda posted a .333/.357/1.024 triple slash line for the series.

3 Down

1. Dilson Herrera was having a great series before straining his right quad in the 6th inning of Saturday’s 4-2 win. His two run blast down the left field line was the difference in that game, but unfortunately, it looks as though the prized prospect might not return for the remainder of the year. There’s a lot of logical reasons why injuries like this happen, but every year I find myself questioning this training staff. Again, I’m not saying injuries, particularly in the leg, don’t happen, but it seems nearly impossible for players on this team to muster a full season without hurting themselves. I wish Herrera a quick and speedy recovery and if this was the end of his 2014 campaign, it was certainly a success for the 20 year old.

2. Travis d’Arnaud has to make immediate changes to how he positions himself behind the plate. I touched on mechanical improvements that he needs to make in the offseason in the last 3&3, but this needs to happen now. In this series, d’Arnaud once again got hit on the head with a back swing and was shaken up for a quick second. Luckily he was able to move on without a hitch. This is a major concern though, he already has a history of concussions that stem from this and it doesn’t seem to be improving. There are only so many times he can have his bell rung before it impacts his career. The Mets need to prioritize this and protect one of their top young stars.

3. This is a bit of a reach because it’s hard to gripe about anything, in particular when the team sweeps a division rival and all but ends their playoff hopes in the progress, but it’s a shame Matt Reynolds didn’t get a call-up to finish out the season. With Herrera and David Wright out, now would have been the perfect time to see Reynolds at shortstop and Wilmer Flores at second. The current lineup obviously is clicking, but giving at bats to Ruben Tejada doesn’t help the organization assess its internal assets heading into 2015.

Perhaps not as intense as the Mets and Nationals rivalry looks to be in coming years, but the Miami Marlins have played hard fought games against New York all season and like the Mets, they’re a squad that is centered around young talent and a low payroll. The fish kept finding ways to get hits en route to taking 2 out of 3 games in this series, below are the usual takeaways in this edition of 3 and 3.

3 Up

Wilmer Flores was incredible this series. Apparently no one told the 23 year old Venezuelan that hitting for power in Citi Field is impossible because he made it a top priority the last three days. Wilmer’s slugging percentage against Miami this week was 1.273, hitting 2 doubles and 2 home runs to go with 8 RBI’s. Overall, he registered a .545/.583/1.856 slash line for the series. It appears Flores has developed a repeatable approach at the plate. He’s getting the barrel on the ball consistently and has an idea of what pitchers are trying to do to him. 6 of Wilmer’s 8 RBI’s came Tuesday night and the SNY crew flashed a very interesting statistic. In Mets franchise history, only four players have had two separate 6 RBI nights in a single season. Along with Flores, that list includes Carlos Delgado, Mike Piazza and Robin Ventura.

Lucas Duda regressed towards the end of August, but he has bounced back gradually, adjusting different parts of his offensive approach to remain productive. It’s easy to dismiss Lucas when he isn’t hitting home runs, but he is much more of an all around hitter than he’s been given credit for. In this series, Lucas went 4 for 9 (.444), but also drew 4 walks to give him a .615 on base percentage. This as a major plus because the league caught up to Duda and he’s seeing mostly breaking balls, a common treatment in the majors for emerging sluggers. Any elite power hitter goes through periods where the home runs slow down, so it’s imperative that Lucas finds a way to contribute when the quality of pitches diminishes. A perfect example was last night’s game where he managed to punch in two runs with a slap single off a pitch that landed on the upper outside portion of the plate. Would it have been more fun to see him crank a 3 run shot over the Shea Bridge? Of course, but I’m firmly content having a 25-30 HR first baseman who also drives in runs with singles and doubles. Additionally, as his power and average have dipped, his OBP has skyrocketed. In the month of September, he’s getting on base at a .439 clip. Eventually, this will come down, but with it, his home runs will go up as opposing pitchers will have to throw their fastball for strikes. When they do, there will be misses over the plate, the Hulk will be unleashed and moonshots will resume. One other thing, Duda is hitting .308 against left-handed pitching this month and getting on base at a .400 clip against them.

Have to give the final “Up” nod to Jacob deGrom, his performance on Monday night was spectacular. He made the first 8 Marlins batters look completely lost at the plate, striking them out one after the next in dominate fashion. Ironically, the first hit came off of the opposing pitcher, Jarred Cosart, but deGrom got back to work and cruised up to the 7th inning nicely after that. The outfield was playing oddly deep in that inning and the Marlins took advantage with a series of hits that landed in front Matt den Dekker and Juan Lagares, allowing them to briefly take a 3-2 lead. The Mets offense would come back with go ahead runs in the bottom of the frame, but the bullpen could not hold on to keep Jacob’s W in line. Another hard luck loss for the Rookie of the Year frontrunner, but not before tying the major league record for number of consecutive batters struck out to start a game. Congrats sir.

3 Down

This isn’t an indictment of Juan Lagares, but the centerfielder may be out for the rest of the season after spraining his right elbow in the 4th inning of Tuesday night’s game throwing to second base. This is a major downer, obviously there’s only 9 games left in the season, but Juan has hands down been my favorite player to watch this year. He was also hitting .317 in the month of September, working hard to end his first full campaign on a high note. First priority is to get healthy for next season though, so if Tuesday marked the end to Lagares’ season, tip of the hat to this young lad. If he doesn’t win a gold glove award, I’m going to explode.

Travis d’Arnaud has got to improve his footwork behind the plate. Bobby Ojeda did an excellent job breaking down TDA’s mechanical flaws during last night’s pre-game segment with a side by side comparison to backup catcher Anthony Recker. Travis comes up flat and doesn’t sets his throwing arm back far enough before firing to second, forcing him to add an extra hitch in his release. This adds another second for the runner and more pressure to d’Arnaud’s timing resulting in rushed misfires over the second basemen’s head. One second seems harmless, but it’s the difference between locking up runners and sailing the ball into center field. However, like Ojeda, I believe d’Arnaud will improve in the offseason. Also, his catching abilities are much more valuable than he gets credit for. There were several pitches in this series that were clearly out of the strike zone before Travis snapped them back in with the flick of his wrist. This ability, along with his game calling, are two very underappreciated aspects of his game.

Last down goes to the farewell tour that stopped by Queens on Tuesday night. Bud Selig’s vote of confidence for Fred and Jeff Wilpon is infuriating at this point. Look, I understand that blindly spending money in free agency this offseason will not cure this Met’s post-season woes. However, Selig is avoiding the bigger picture. Financial prowess doesn’t just pertain to offseason acquisitions. It deals with retaining talent that is set for a raise in the offseason. It deals with acquiring talent midseason in the midst of a playoff hunt, when other players undoubtedly go down or underperform. It deals with justifying the price the Mets charge their fans to go see a game. This isn’t Oakland, it isn’t Kansas City, it’s New York. No one is fooled by the numbers, the product, or the slick sales pitch. The Mets are going to miss the offseason for an 8th straight year and despite having the pieces to build a dominant contender going into next season, it looks like the organization is instead banking on a miracle. I’ll write later on about other options this team can exercise in the offseason, but regardless, the approach for next year should have been described as ”we’ll spend when the right opportunity presents itself”, not “we’re still broke, but it’s all good”.

3 Up

1. Jacob deGrom was yet again stellar on Tuesday night. The 26 year old continued to make his case as the ace of the 2014 Mets pitching staff and top candidate for National League Rookie Of The Year. Jacob pitched 8.0 innings, gave up 3 hits, allowed absolutely zero walks and struck out 9 batters. Had it been earlier in the year, with less caution surrounding pitch and innings limits, he could have gone for his first complete game shutout. It’s excellent to see guys like deGrom and fellow young hurler, Zach Wheeler, performing so well down the stretch. This is exactly what the Mets organization and its fan base needs to see heading into next season, where it’s October baseball or bust.

2. Give Rafael Montero credit, following deGrom’s performance was no small task, but he did great. The 23 year old Dominican earned his first major league win by finally flashing the excellent control that made him a top prospect in the minors when he needed it most. Montero had a no-hitter going through 4.2 innings before opposing pitcher Tyler Matzek doubled on a line drive to left field. He would eventually leave the game after a total of 5.1 innings with two runners in scoring position and his pitch count at 106, which was the only true knock on his otherwise stellar performance. Hopefully he’s allowed to take the mound one more time before being shut down so he can have an opportunity to close out the season with 3 great starts in a row. In his last two outings as a starter, Montero has given up only 8 hits and 1 earned run in 12.2 innings of work.

3. The series sweep put the Mets within 4 games of the .500 mark. In the month of September, the team is 7-2, with a team ERA of 2.73 and a triple slash line of .278/.358/.816. It would be nice to see the team finish at or above 81 wins. It’ll be tough with a 4 game set against the Washington Nationals coming up next, but at this point, it’s a realistic goal for these young players to strive for.

3 Down

1. Wilmer Flores did provide the walk off sacrifice fly in Monday’s 3-2 win, but it was a very shallow hit ball by the shortstop and the defending center fielder on most teams would make the throw at home to nab the runner. In this case, the Rockies Drew Stubbs‘ totally bundled a toss home to gun down Curtis Granderson, despite being a few feet behind second base to make the throw. Walk off win is a walk off win though, so credit still goes to Wilmer. Still though, he was hitless in 11 plate appearances this series, drawing only 1 walk to account for his only on base cameo. It’s unreasonable to expect Flores to hit like a batting champion every game, night in and night out, but he has a rare opportunity playing on a team riddled with injury and lack of competition, to win himself an everyday job. Nothing short of high caliber production will secure him even a spot in the conversation. I’ve never been sold on him at SS, but I’d like to see him have success at the plate to close out the year and find himself an everyday job, even if it’s on another team via trade this offseason.

2. Travis d’Arnaud’s pitch framing ability is some of the best in the league. There have been numerous pitches throughout this season that I was stunned to see called strikes. When looking at the replay, it’s tremendous the amount of wrist speed Travis has to be able to pull the pitches back into the strike zone. However, for as many framed strikes, there’s an equal amount of pitches that whiz by his glove towards the backstop. An indictment of the young catcher’s defense is that he attempts to frame everything, when in a lot of situations he should just catch the pitch and let it be called a ball. This was noticeable a few times in the series and is a part of his game that must be resolved in the offseason. He’s performed nicely at the plate, especially given his position, but hit bat loses value if he can’t play solid defense with a young pitching staff. His throwing mechanics need work also, but these issues are all fixable and TDA has shown with his offense that he is responsive to coaching.

3. This last one is more of a personal, yet somewhat humorous, gripe with Gary Cohen of the SNY crew. Hey dude, can you stop saying any version of the phrase ‘no-hitter’ when our pitchers have one going? I’ll admit that it’s completely absurd as a grown man to believe this has any impact on the game, but baseball is built on superstitions and I fully buy into this one. Need proof? The only time I didn’t listen to the SNY crew call a Mets no-hit bid was when I ended up at Citi Field on June 1st, 2012 after work. The result? I rest my case.

The Mets finished up their three game set against the Marlins with a 2-1 series victory last night. New York has an interesting parallel with their division rivals from Miami, in that both organizations have dwelled at the bottom of the NL East cellar for many years now, but through those years they also stockpiled young, athletic players with the potential to be stars. Let’s see how the Met’s youngsters stacked up in this edition of 3 Up and 3 Down.

3 Up

1. Matt den Dekker, Juan Lagares and Kirk Nieuwenhuis are a stellar defensive unit in the outfield, they’re fast and fearless, but that speed and tenacity has transitioned recently at the plate. Of the three, I’ve been most impressed with den Dekker as of late. The indictment against Matt has always been that his offense may never develop enough to give his glove an everyday spot in the lineup. I’m only evaluating a small sample size, but MDD is showing improvement in areas that project future success. Mainly, he’s reverted to a shorter, more compact swing, allowing him to turn on pitches quickly. He’s also showing vast improvements in his plate discipline. In his first 12 games in August, he was seeing an average of 12.4 pitches per game. In his last seven, that number has gone up to 16.4 pitches per game, with a 22% increase in strikes. His walk rate has remained relatively flat, but now Matt is seeing better pitches and taking better swings. The results are fantastic as den Dekker left Miami with a triple slash line of .545/.615/1.252, plating a run, swiping a base and scoring twice. His defense holds up pretty well to his counterpart in center field as well.

2. Juan Lagares is no stranger to Mets fans at this point. He continues to improve in every facet of his game, becoming more of a student, while retaining his ‘hair on fire’ style of play. Lagares took tremendous strides in this series and gave us a glimpse of a superstar in the making. First base coach Tom Goodwin has challenged Juan to transition his speed in the outfield to the basepaths and unsurprisingly, it’s been a success. Juan had three stolen bases in three attempts against the Marlins this series. In his last six games, he is 5-for-5, as Goodwin at times has forced him to steal. Lagares noted that he had previously been hesitant given the duress on his hamstring, but at 100%, he seems unstoppable. Prior to his recent streak, he was 4-for-7 all year. It also seems that the coaching staff is making a unique case for Lagares’ approach at the plate by ditching the one-size-fits-all philosophy and building on Juan’s strengths. Pitchers began to recognize his ability to hit balls on the outside of the plate, so they started going inside to him. Lamar Johnson worked with Lagares to pull the ball on the inside and it translated into home run power. Opposing pitchers are once again pitching him low and outside the strike zone and Juan has adjusted nicely by continuing to drive those balls to the opposite field. Tuesday, Lagares put his talents on exhibition, going 4-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases. Overall, the center fielder batted .500 with an OPS of 1.105 in South Beach.

3. Little “d” on the mound and behind the plate, means a W in the books. The battery duo of Jacob deGrom and Travis d’Arnaud has produced a team record of 5-3 in the games they start together, allowing a meager 1.07 walks/hits per innings pitched. Last night kept pace with that production, as deGrom went 6.0 innings, allowing only one earned run while striking out six. He has lowered his ERA on the season to 2.87 and kept his name hot in the hunt for Rookie Of The Year. Meanwhile d’Arnaud (the little ‘d’ is killing my auto-correct) continues to emerge as one of the top offensive catchers in the league. He already leads all rookies in home runs with 12, but had a great series, giving his pitchers a boost on offense. Travis produced a triple slash line of .500/.571/1.155 this series and is now a point away from having a .300 OBP and .700 OPS on the year, which is fairly remarkable given his woes prior to returning from AAA Las Vegas. Consistency is the name of the game for the youngsters, it’s the only true measurement of projecting sustained success in the future, and these players named so far have done a great job making the future very bright.

3 Down

1. Pitching was atrocious for the most part in this series, which for the Mets, has been their strength all year. Zack Wheeler was fortunate enough to have minimal damage done to his ERA, as it now sits at 3.45. He only gave up two earned runs in Monday’s loss, but as a whole, he allowed five runs total while he was on the mound. Wheeler again turned in a brief outing, going only 4.2 innings with five hits and two walks, using 114 pitches to get through it all. Zack clearly has the material to be an ace, but he has yet to figure out a way to keep his pitch counts down and go deeper into games. Pitching coach Dan Warthen has got to prioritize this and reverse the trend or Wheeler may never reach his full potential. Jon Niese remarkably was able to walk away with a win on Tuesday, thanks entirely to an eight-run offensive outburst by his teammates (Jon did go 1-1 with a run scored to be fair), but he still surrendered 10 hits and six earned runs.

2. Errors absolutely killed this team. Jeurys Familia is a relief pitcher, so I’m slightly less aggravated by his two errors in the series, although they were total blunders. Dilson Herrera committed two errors in his three starts and David Wright also had a pair in the series, giving him 15 on the year. Wright is a seasoned vet and a former gold glover, although watching his errors gave me hope and disappointment simultaneously. Hope, because they had nothing to do with injury or lack of range. Disappointment because he was back on his heels when he committed a fielding error and he wasn’t squaring his body up when he made a poor throw. When David struggles from injury, I’m probably his biggest apologist and have been all year. This series was not a good display of The Captain leading by example though.

3. In game decision making by the manager, in my opinion, cost the Mets their only loss in this series and could have cost the team another loss last night as well. In the top of the 7th of a tie ball game on Monday night, Terry Collins made an offensive switch to bat Eric Campbell against lefty reliever Mike Dunn, taking Matt den Dekker out of the game. Conventional wisdom agrees with Collins’ move here, but there were different elements that immediately made me feel like this was a poor choice. The Marlins were producing runs all night, using all parts of the outfield to knock out base hits. Den Dekker is clearly the better defensive choice, and had also been producing at the plate that night too. In a game where the Mets pitchers were getting lit up, it made sense to leave den Dekker in. The result was Campbell flying out to center and in the following frame he dropped a ball he dove to catch in left field, It was the beginning of an error-filled meltdown. Hindsight is 20/20, but den Dekker was playing great that night and he undoubtedly would have made that catch. This isn’t a knock on Soup, but he’s not an outfielder. I also understand situational hitting, but at the same time, this is supposed to be a developmental period for our up and coming youngsters. All position players who are looking to lock down a job in 2015 should be tested in all situations across nine innings of baseball to see what they’re really made of. As for last night, leaving Carlos Torres in to bat with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth, instead of pinch-hitting Curtis Granderson, was a dangerous choice that just barely paid off. The entire reason behind that decision was so that Torres could face Giancarlo Stanton in the bottom of the eighth. The result? Stanton cranked his 36th home run of the year, a magnificent bomb to left field. Again, this is another case of hindsight after the fact, but I was baffled when I saw Torres toss a batting helmet on. If it weren’t for a slick defensive play by Lucas Duda to rob a rocketed baseball off the bat Marcel Ozuna and end the inning, it most certainly could have backfired.

The Mets went almost entirely with home grown talent this weekend against the Phillies as clubhouse veterans such as Daniel Murphy, David Wright and Curtis Granderson saw their playing diminished for various reasons. The results? The Amazins’ added another series W to this year’s resume. Below are the usual 3 Up/3 Down takeaways.

3 Up

1. Sunday was an interesting sight as the Mets trotted out three former center field prospects in Matt den Dekker (LF), Juan Lagares (CF) and Kirk Nieuwenhuis (RF) to defend the outfield. As a unit, they also accounted for half of the offensive production yesterday, scoring 3 runs, stealing 3 bases while putting up a slash line of .333/.500/.833. Defensively, Matt den Dekker played some great defense all series, making a web gem catch in Saturday’s loss to rob Ryan Howard of an extra base hit. He also put in a great bid to gun down Freddy Galvis at home plate off of a sharp single by Jimmy Rollins, but Anthony Recker was unable to hold on to the one hop toss from Matt, despite on a dime.

2. Jacob deGrom resumed his campaign for ROTY by having an excellent outing on Friday. The former Stetson standout went 7 innings, allowing only 4 hits, 1 unearned run and 2 walks while punching out 5. The 26 year old rookie has some outstanding numbers at home this season, posting a 1.68 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, a 3.06 strikeout to walk ratio, 0.50 home runs per 9 innings while opponents bat a meager .215 against him at Citi Field.

3. Wilmer Flores had an outstanding series. The 24 year old Venezuelan turned a great performance at the plate and with the glove. Flores had a triple slash line of .500/.545/1.145, scored 2 runs, plated an RBI and even swiped a base. On defense, Wilmer helped turn four separate double plays while also flashing some nice range, robbing Ben Revere of a base hit with a diving snag in yesterday’s win.

4. A bonus “UP” for Dilson Herrera who made his major league debut and earned his first hit, walk and RBI during the three game set. The beginning of what should be a fantastic career for the 20-year old second baseman.

3 Down

1. Curtis Granderson is spiraling downward rapidly since the All-Star break. The struggling slugger only played two games in the series, getting a day to “clear his head” (a.k.a. benched) on Sunday. Granderson went 0-8 with 2 strikeouts and despite one spectacular catch on Saturday night, his defense is extremely conservative and overall a liability. It doesn’t help his cause that Lagares and den Dekker are spectacular within their respective regions, but there were several outfield hits that either of Granderson’s counterparts would have made and these hits ended up being the majority difference in the Amazins’ lone loss from the series. Terry Collins disregarded the hits as more luck than anything else, but Curtis has lost a step in his speed to the ball and his bat isn’t hot enough to make up for the lack of defense.

2. Lucas Duda is slumping hard recently and carried this trend into the Phillies series. The Hulk went 1 for 12 in the series with no extra base hits, walks or RBI’s. Duda even contributed a rare throwing error in Friday’s win, although his defense has remained solid overall. The emergence of Duda was sure to come with some downward movement, but the upcoming series against Miami will be a true test for him and his future. He is batting 0.87 with two singles in his last two series. If Lucas is able to break out of his woes and get back to laying the barrel on the ball, it will go a long way towards quieting his critics who do not see his 2014 performance as proof that he is a lock at 1st base for the future.

3. Terry Collins continues to look like a lock in 2015, despite Wally Backman putting up tremendous numbers on the farm and garnering the support of nearly the entire fan base. News broke during this series that there’s no chance the front office will consider the former World Series champ as a candidate to unseat the current manager and Collins’ remaining contract has little to do with it. Had something to do with Wally thinking on his own, managing winning ball clubs with constantly fluctuating rosters, just winning in general…I don’t know, something along those lines.

*Side Note*- Condolences to Bartolo Colon for the loss of his mother, whom he buried Thursday prior to the start of this series. Big ‘tolo didn’t have the best outing on Saturday, but it took incredible guts for him to get on the mound after such a devastating experience. Thoughts and prayers are with Colon and his whole family.

Mike Vorkunov of The Star-Ledger took a look at the Mets and how they stack up from a financial perspective. By taking Fangraphs dollar statistics (relative to the number of games played this season) he calculated what each player’s performance was valued at and compared it to their actual salary for the season. Some of the numbers are very surprising.

Vorkunov concludes that Juan Lagares is the Mets most underpaid player. His open market value, given his .281 average and Gold Glove caliber defensive skills in center, is worth $16.4 million. Because Lagares has yet to enter his arbitration years he makes just $500,000. That means the Mets are getting almost a full $16 million in value out of their young center fielder.

The most surprising finding was that Curtis Granderson and Bartolo Colon are very close to even money. Granderson makes $13 million this season and his estimated value is $11.48 million thus far. Given Granderson’s slow start, those numbers could be much closer by the seasons end. Colon is actually underpaid. The veteran right-hander’s contract seems to be right on the money at $9 million this season. His value; $13.8 million.

It should come as no surprise that David Wright is the worst value on the team. The Captain is hitting just .276 with a dismal 8 home runs in 2014. Given his $20 million price tag and $11.3 million value, he represents the teams worst contract right now. Keep in mind that this analysis was done after Chris Young‘s release.

The Mets are all about the numbers and there’s no better way to see how players stack up than by comparing their numbers and their salaries. The most interesting thing to keep an eye on is how these numbers change throughout their careers. Will Lagares ever actually sign a contract that pays him $15+ million? Could Murphy actually get more than his value on the open market?

]]>http://metsmerizedonline.com/2014/08/lagares-is-most-underpaid-met-wright-is-most-overpaid.html/feed/0Collins: All Of A Sudden, Wheeler Is A Different Animal Out Therehttp://metsmerizedonline.com/2014/08/all-of-a-sudden-wheeler-is-a-different-animal-out-there.html/
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2014/08/all-of-a-sudden-wheeler-is-a-different-animal-out-there.html/#commentsWed, 06 Aug 2014 15:04:15 +0000http://metsmerizedonline.com/?p=162665

Last night during our game thread, I was taken aback when a reader commented during the second inning that the problem with Zack Wheeler was that he’s a thrower and not a pitcher. I jumped right in and said nothing could be more further from the truth and that Wheeler was mature beyond his years as a pitcher and that like most young players will have the occasional hiccup.

Wheeler proceeded to validate my faith in him and realizing he didn’t have his “A” game, did what all great pitchers do and made changes on the fly and battled his way into what ended up being a gutsy seven inning performance that limited the Washington Nationals to just one run.

He put on a pitching clinic, getting the big outs when he needed them most including a critical pair of rally-killing doubleplay grounders. Wheeler admitted afterward that he had no feel for his curve, slider or changeup and decided to stick to his two and four-seamers to get the job done, spotting them and mixing up speeds.

It’s not fun pitching without his best stuff, he told reporters.

“You’re mad at yourself and you’re trying to figure out what it is. I wouldn’t say it’s mentally draining, but it’s frustrating. I could tell it was going to be one of those days, but you have to get through it.”

And get through it is exactly what the young righthander did. He now owns a 4-0 record with a 1.59 ERA in his last seven starts, while pitching at least six innings and allowing just two or fewer runs in each outing. Boom.

“You can let the game get away and he didn’t,” Terry Collins later said. “That’s why I’m telling you, this kid is really starting to figure it out.”

“You see it in every phase. He’s not just throwing now, he knows what he wants to do. But the biggest thing is, I’ve seen a whole different competitor on the mound. All of the sudden he’s a different animal out there.”

A different animal out there? Indeed.

(Joe D.)

August 5

Heading into this season it was unclear who the ace of the Mets staff was. Was it the veteran Bartolo Colon, the crafty lefty Jon Niese or maybe even the opening day starter Dillon Gee.

While the entire staff has been excellent this year, with the summer came the emergence of two youngsters vying for the top spot in 2014. Tonight in Washington, Zack Wheeler will try to keep pace with Jacob deGrom.

As Jamie Ross discussed on MLB.com, Wheeler is coming off another great start and has put together an impressive run. Over his last six starts he’s gone at least six innings while posting a 1.63 ERA and he hasn’t lost since June 25th against the first place Oakland A’s.

Wheeler said he’s confident with the way his team is playing behind him.

“We’re a good team right now, I feel,” Wheeler said. “We’re just a couple of swings or outs away from turning the corner. … I feel like we’re a whole different team from the beginning of the season, honestly.”

Wheeler is up against a tall task. The Washington Nationals remain in first place in the NL East and have one of the best pitching staffs in the majors.

Tonight Wheeler will face-off against Gio Gonzalez and it doesn’t get much easier from there. The remaining games in the series will be pitched by the newly acquired Doug Fister and the co-ace of the staff Jordan Zimmerman.

Yoenis Cespedes at the 2013 Home Run Derby at Citi Field (Photo by Jim Mancari)

So another July 31 trade deadline has passed, and while the Mets maybe weren’t so active right now, some of the deals that occurred could actually affect the Amazin’s this offseason.

The Boston Red Sox completely overhauled their pitching staff by trading Jon Lester and John Lackey, as well as Felix Doubront and Andrew Miller.

In exchange, the Sox received two prominent outfielders: Yoenis Cespedes and Allen Craig. In looking at the team’s pitching however, it leaves must to be desired.

That’s where the Mets come into play.

It’s no secret that the Mets need a bat, and now the Red Sox could use a few arms, which the Mets have. So I wonder if these teams will be talking this offseason.

Starting with the Red Sox, let’s take a look at how their outfield would shape up next season. Shane Victorino is still under contract. Jackie Bradley Jr. – though he’s struggled with the bat at times – provides excellent defense in center field. Brock Holt has hit well in a limited sample, and Daniel Nava could be a solid option as a fourth or fifth outfielder. And don’t forget that the team has a big-time outfield prospect in Mookie Betts.

Naturally, one of the corner spots would be filled by either Cespedes or Craig. So let’s hypothetically say that next year’s outfield in Boston will consist of Cespedes or Craig in left, Bradley Jr./Holt in center and Victorino in right.

Since David Ortiz and Mike Napoli will still be around, that limits Craig to solely an outfield role, rather than playing first base or DH – though he could fill in at times in those spots but likely not regularly to warrant keeping him, given the team’s pitching holes.

If I were the Mets, I would inquire this offseason to see if Cespedes or Craig will be available via trade. Certainly, Cespedes would be the huge bat the Mets need for the middle of the order, but a guy like Craig coming off a tough year could be a smart gamble, especially given his versatility.

Cespedes has one year at $10.5 million remaining on his contract after this season. That’s a bargain considering his offensive production, not mention his ability to gun down runners at any base.

Craig meanwhile has three years left on his contract with a $13 million club option for 2018.

I’m not crazy about the idea of giving up a Noah Syndergaard or Jacob deGrom type prospect for A) a guy like Cespedes who only has one year left on his deal or B) a lesser player like Craig who has too many years left.

But if the Mets could negotiate an extension with Cespedes as part of a trade, now we’re talking.

And as far as Craig, a package of lesser prospects along with maybe Dillon Gee or Jon Niese could get a deal done. Even a straight-up deal for one of the veteran pitchers may work.

Cespedes to me is the impact bat the Mets are seeking. Craig I feel is more of a stopgap player, and the team already has too many of those.

So let’s see if Sandy Alderson gives the Red Sox a call this offseason.

Let me post this to the audience: Would you rather see the team try to acquire Cespedes knowing it would take Syndergaard or deGrom (and other prospects potentially too), or would you settle for Craig for a package centered around Gee or Niese, rather than the young electric arms?

At one point in his career, David Wright was the young prospect looking to make a name for himself with the big club, the new kid on the block surrounded by veterans.

Marc Carig of Newsday writes that even though the Mets had the key players to make a run at the title during Wright’s early years, they still found themselves competing against teams like the Marlins who had their own crop of top prospects.

“They had a bunch of younger players with this certain swagger to them,” Wright tells Newsday.

Ten years after debuting with the Mets, the Captain is now in the center of a team with youth on their side and looking to display some of that confidence and swagger of their own.

The Mets, who are 45-50, finished the first half of the season on an 8-2 run, and even though they are in third place and seven games out, their play of late, especially from their younger players have given hope for a better second half.

The young guys are starting to get the job done, and it may have taken mostly all of the first half to show, but now is the right time for this team to finally display a chemistry that Wright hopes will finally take him back to winning baseball as he once experienced as a younger player in the game.

“When you have a room full of younger guys, sometimes they can get a little cocky in a good way, where they feel like they can’t lose or they can’t get out or the opposing team can’t hit them,” Wright said. “And that can be dangerous.”

Now the starting rotation, which at one point had many holes without the likes of Matt Harvey leading the charge, has of late been very effective especially with Jacob deGrom and now Zack Wheeler‘s recent surge.

With the trade deadline quickly approaching, the key question will be if management believes that the team is poised for a playoff run and can keep all hands on deck, or if selling off to find other key components is best.

Do the Mets have what it takes to finally reach their goal?, well Terry Collins feels that playing consistently as they recently have, can help the team reach that plateau.

“What we’ve got to do is go out and play like we did this homestand,” Collins tells Newsday with regards to how the Mets took two of three from the Rangers, three of four from the Braves and swept the Marlins. “You’re not going to do it every night, I understand that. But for the most part, play consistent, play smart, play fundamental baseball and we’ll get back in the hunt.”

The last time the Mets enjoyed any success in the second half and posted a winning record was in 2008 when they were 38-29 after the break and finished in second place behind the Phillies at 89-73 (.549).

But for the Mets to repeat that feat this time around, its clear that they do have an uphill climb, but one that can be had if they continue with what has worked recently; pitch and hit, but can it be that simple?

“There’s no question that we can be a different second-half team, ” says Wright.

I was sitting on the edge of my seat at Citi Field last night in the top of the eighth inning with one out and runners on the corners for the Dodgers.

The dangerous Hanley Ramirez was up with the Mets only down by one run. Boy did we need a double play in that spot.

Ramirez likely would have been tough to double up, except maybe if he wound up hitting a sharp comebacker right to Jeurys Familia on the mound.

To my surprise, he did. Right off the bat, I’m thinking, “Wow, what a huge double play in that spot!”

But Familia all of sudden double clutches, and I see two guys – Daniel Murphy and Wilmer Flores – both hovering around second base and in each other’s way.

Naturally, the Mets fail to turn the double play and allow an insurance run to score. As if the script was written prior to the game, the Mets only muster one run in the next two innings – meaning the fielder’s choice off the bat of Ramirez produced what was essentially the game-winning run.

And it’s all because the Mets have trouble with the fundamentals.

In recent memory, the Mets pretty much have been in every game they’ve played. Yet they’ve now lost three in a row and 14 of the last 19 games.

How many times is this team going to shoot itself in the foot by making mental mistakes?

A slow trickler out in front of the plate with two outs, and Anthony Recker and Carlos Torres can’t communicate to get an out at first, allowing a run to score. And that was after a wild pitch that allowed the runner to move from second to third.

Another huge double play situation the next night, and Jacob deGrom induces the dangerous Brian McCann to hit a sharp grounder. Murphy throws to David Wright covering second due to the shift, but Wright makes a weak and wide throw to first. Of course, Alfonso Soriano follows that with the only run-producing hit of the game.

We know this team is not going to score five-plus runs per game. But the starting pitching has been better than the team’s record shows.

I’ve written about it already this season that the Mets can’t rely on playing “perfect games” every single night. But what they have to do is make the plays they are supposed to make – especially in game-changing situations.

On the play last night, there’s two ways to look at it. With a right-handed hitter batting in Ramirez, maybe Murphy and Flores communicated that Murph would cover on a comebacker. But the traditional play is that the shortstop takes the throw, since his momentum is already carrying him towards first base to complete the double play. They were already positioned in double-play depth, so it’s not like Flores had far to go.

Sure, Familia should have just thrown it in the general area, and hopefully one of the middle infielders still would have had enough time to take the throw and complete the play. But still, it should have been clear who was covering the base before the play, and the other middle infielder should have then backed up the play.

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda” at this point – and sadly, this phrase has been used way too often this season.

So after another tough loss, I left Citi Field discouraged. The silver lining: deGrom has looked great through two starts.

But without offense and with routine defensive miscues, his starts – and all the pitchers’ starts – will come to naught.

Even though Jacob deGrom received his second loss in as many starts on Wednesday night, he’s also recorded two quality starts in that time as well. Sure, he has not been flawless in either start but he has certainly impressed.

DeGrom made his big league debut on May 15th, tossing seven innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits, while walking two and striking out seven. His second start looked a little less sexy in the box score but it was still one of quality nonetheless. In six innings, he allowed three earned runs on four hits, three of which were solo home runs by Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez in that order. He walked three and struck out four against Los Angeles.

In both of his big league starts this season, deGrom has shown the ability to get hitters out with a hard sinking fastball that sits at 92-94 mph throughout his entire outing and occasionally touches 95. He also mixes in an above average slider and changeup that work very well when he’s able to keep his fastball down.

Keeping the fastball down was a problem in his start against the Dodgers as he left one up to Adrian Gonzalez, who sent it well into the Pepsi porch. In all fairness, deGrom actually hit his target on the pitch, but Gonzalez being the exceptional hitter he is, went up and got it with ease. Puig’s home run came on a 91 mph fastball left over the heart of the plate and Ramirez’s on a hanging slider. DeGrom has shown pretty decent control in his brief tenure, just not sparkling command.

As I’m sure a lot of people know already, deGrom was a shortstop at Stetson University before he was converted to a pitcher. He then eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in 2011. Because of this, the 6’4”, 180 pound righthander has not accumulated the amount of experience a pitching prospect typically does before making their big league debut. With more time on the mound, it’s fair to believe he’ll improve his ability to locate pitches.

DeGrom was originally going to be called up to bolster the Mets ineffective bullpen but due to Dillon Gee’s lat strain, he would receive an opportunity to start. So far, he’s taken the opportunity and run with it as he’s shown the ability to make pitches in tough spots and not break down late in games. He’s even impressed more than Rafael Montero, who’s struggled with control in his first two big league starts; a problem he’s never had to face throughout his minor league career.

Montero’s struggles and deGrom’s success beg the question of who remains in the rotation when Dillon Gee returns. The Mets have always seen Montero with the ability to start and have been somewhat divided on deGrom’s future. But it looks as if the latter is making bigger strides out of the gates than expected. Will the Mets send Montero to the bullpen when Dillon Gee returns? Who knows? Should they send him to the bullpen? Maybe. One thing is for sure, though, deGrom certainly appears to have a future as a big league starter early on and to take away his opportunity after he’s seized it would be a questionable move. It’s probably too early to judge and make a determination, but that’s exactly what the Mets will have to do next week. Sometimes small sample sizes are all you get. That’s why GMs get paid the big bucks.